TELL OTHERS ABOUT US

This award is named for GDS Alumna, Mekia Valentine '06, who went on to play women's basketball at Wake Forest University and the University of California Santa Barbara. The New York Liberty selected her in the third round of the 2011 WNBA Draft. She opted to go overseas and spent the next four years playing professional basketball in Israel, Poland, Romania and Germany. Mekia's aunt, GDS Alumna, Leslie Valentine '92, wanted to do something to memorialize Mekia and established this student award endowment fund in memory of Mekia and the impact of Mekia’s educational and athletic experience at Greensboro Day School. This award recognizes a female student of color in the Upper School who makes outstanding efforts in several of the following areas: academics, extra-curricular activities, leadership, and community involvement.  

This year's recipient came to GDS as a freshman and she has been a shining light on campus since she arrived.  She strives to do her best in the classroom and is willing to go the extra mile to improve her knowledge.  There have been several similarities between our recipient and the award's namesake, Mekia Valentine: wonderful smiles, great friends to their teammates and classmates, willingness to work daily to achieve academically, a desire to perform their best on the basketball court, and respectful to coaches, teachers and classmates.  

It is our pleasure to present the inaugural Mekia S. Valentine '06 Award to A’Shauna Robinson ’23.